Quiz Bowl leadership members assist in setting up for another weekly practice in preparation for upcoming competitions. “As we head into the more competitive tournaments of the season, we have been trying to attend more tournaments to get more in-game experience, as well as reading more difficult questions in practice to prepare us for more challenging tournaments,” Pho said.

Quiz Bowl continued its weekly Monday afternoon practices in Room A202 following the team’s performance at the Indiana Association of School Principals Indiana Area Quiz Bowl Tournament on Jan. 27. According to Brian Pho, club co-president and junior, the A Team placed second in the Area tournament, advancing to the next major championship: State.

“We did well in the morning,” Pho said, “but a couple of unfortunate mistakes cost us the win.”

Club sponsor Matthew Cinkoske said of the team’s performance, “While we did lose to (Park Tudor School) in the final match of the tournament, we did qualify as the first seed for the State competition on March 2 by having the highest points per game average of any team in the state.”

Additionally, according to Cinkoske, the team earned a victory at the Planetfall at Notre Dame (Almost) tournament—hosted by St. Joseph High School in partnership with the Notre Dame Quiz Bowl program—on Feb. 10.

“After an early wake-up call, (our team) did admirably, and I look forward to them continuing that momentum going into State,” Cinkoske said.

Moving forward, the team plans to continue preparing for upcoming Quiz Bowl competitions, with the A Team practicing together more often to get ready for the competitive State tournament. According to Cinkoske, the team is also sorting out details for a tournament hosted at CHS, titled the Carmel Greyhound Invitational 2.

“We will be working hard to ensure this tournament runs as smoothly as possible while we continue to advertise and prepare for the day,” Cinkoske said. “Having gone through the hosting process last year, we have a much better handle on the overall logistics this time around.”